With the draft just four days away and the thought that Matvei Michkov wouldn’t make it to the NHL for a few more years. It was announced this morning by Hockey News Hub and the Fourth Period’s Anthony DiMarco that Michkov would be leaving the SKA and making his way to the United States.
Michkov and his coach, Roman Rotenberg, spoke earlier this year about the possibility of Michkov coming to the Flyers but nothing was confirmed. Rotenberg stated that is Michkov “does not play in the first team in Philadelphia, he will return to us.” Since then, the Michkov’s KHL club has terminated his contract with SKA St. Petersburg with the intention of signing an entry-level contract with the Flyers.
Michkov, the Flyers’ top prospect, was selected as the seventh overall pick in the 2023 draft and was rated a top-four talent, some even said he was the second-best in the drat behind Connor Bedard. He slipped to seventh due to concern regarding his ability to terminate his contact with the KHL. During Thursday’s pre-draft press conference, Flyers GM Danny Briere said “If they tell us he’s coming on September 1st, we’ll jump on it. The mindset for is is we’re going into next season without him. He has two years left on his contract. If something changes from today until then we’ll certainly be happy.”
Matvei spent the 2023-24 season on loan to HK Sochi and scored 41 points over 47 games in the KHL (19 goals and 21 assists) at just 19 years-old. He had a 0.872 point-per-game pace which is what the Flyers need on their roster.
The Flyers will still need to sign an entry-level contract with Michkov, but Michkov’s camp would not have terminated his contract unless they were sure that this would happen shortly after. He is not expected to be in the United States before the time that the Flyers Development Camp ramps up next week but should see him on the roster for Game 1 of the 2024-25 season.
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